I am descended from White settlers to North America and have benefited from the dispossession of Indigenous communities in the Upper Midwest, Northern Rockies, and Pacific Northwest. The systems put in place to bring about that land theft are largely still intact and continue to shape the way I understand my place here and my relationship to the land and its caretakers since time immemorial. My responsibility is to acknowledge the injustices brought about by my ancestors and the cultures they were part of, to deepen my awareness of how I have — during my own lifetime — participated in unjust systems that continue to cause harm, and to work to identify opportunities to lessen future harms. The primary focus of my work has been in my local congregation, where I facilitate a Working Group on Indigenous Relations. I am also in the early stages of conceiving a memoir that explores how my education, culture, and experiences have shaped my views of the natural world and how those perspectives can be decolonized. Overall, I continue to work diligently at becoming more and more the kind of person that my Indigenous friends and colleagues are happy to call a friend and ally, while participating actively in efforts to restore natural lands near where I live.
NANCY MENNING